Good Collection.
For those who don't want to go through the trouble of sitting through "Dance On Fire," "Live At The Hollywood Bowl," or "The Soft Parade," here's "The Best Of The Doors." It is basically a collage of videos featured in all three programs with a few new additions and editing changes. Of course, there's the double-edge fact that both sets have videos you can only find in one or the other. The first video here, "Strange Days," is not in any of the other three, it is a surreal, Fellinisque sideshow to one of the band's darkest, most evocative songs. Doors fans will have a blast with the video's opening, which is the illusion that the cover to the "Strange Days" album has sprung to life. Ray Manzarek, the band's organist, makes a few appearances, most notably as a priest. This is followed by the video for "Break On Through," a publicity clip done for the band's debut album. It's still fun and exhilarating, a few months ago I saw it air on MTV. It is Jim Morrison's first appearance in the video and he makes his presence known. Next comes an interview clip from 1969 where an older-looking, beard-sporting Morrison is talking about poetry and how it is woven into the band's music. The video borrows clips also from "Live At The Hollywood Bowl" and we get footage of Morrison reciting "The Celebration Of The Lizard" and following it with a part of "Spanish Caravan," this is said to be one of The Doors' calmest, least-visceral concerts and aside from the great music, it shows. There is a well-assembled music video for "The Unknown Soldier" which skillfully mixes war footage with Doors concert sequences showing Morrison faking an execution and vomitting blood. "The Changeling" follows, showing the band in super-star mode as they walk through air-ports, perform concerts and talk to fans. One of the more interesting pieces is footage of the band recording "Wild Child" in the studio, it's interesting to watch them put together the song and sometimes disagree on certain parts (drummer John Densmore calls the song's ending "the stupidest thing I've ever heard"). It's also fun to watch Robby Krieger play his trademark slide guitar for this song. Doors fans will especially want this video for the "Gloria" piece which was banned by MTV when first released but not anymore considering on the 30th anniversary of Morrison's death VH1 aired it. It's a fun, dirty video showing Morrison acting erotic on stage and clips of him with whom I suspect is Pamlera Courson getting intimate in a room. The video is never "pornographic" and it's a fun song. The medley of "Whiskey Bar," "Backdoor Man" and "Five To One" is one of the interesting concert moments, showing the band's ability for some good hard rock. I have never been a big fan of the "L.A. Woman" video Ray Manzarek directed, I love the song, but the video doesn't go much with it and it never amounts to anything as interesting as the other videos assembled. "Wishful Sinful" could have been left out, it's not exactly timeless, visceral Doors. However, the Ed Sullivan performance of "Light My Fire" is featured and truly evokes the Doors spirit, showing Morrison all in black leather defying the Sullivan people and saying "higher" on network TV. Morrison's last known interview is featured which was done when he was getting ready to go to trial for supposedly exposing himself at a 1969 Miami concert. This is followed by an atmospheric, stylish and very recent music video done for a cut from "An American Prayer" titled "The Ghost Song." The band members, in their present aged form, perform the song to images of Morrison and dancing Indians. The ending is a fun rendition of "Hello I Love You" showing the band performing in London and a hot babe dancing to the tune (the chick in black was obviously not filmed in 1968 mind you). Over-all, it's a good fix for Doors fans. I recommend "The Doors Collection" DVD of course, but for those who want a simple cut of the good stuff, here it is.

sincere but sad performance--morrison on the decline
this is one of the doors calmer and more laid back performances, and yet it is stronger than the hollywood bowl and is much more potent because morrison's heart, although it is obviously filled with sadness and devastation, is completely in it. his emotional connection to the music is so intense that "wishful sinful", which is basically your average pop song, sounds like a shakespearean ballad when he is singing it. unfortunately you also sense that he is suffering intensely on the inside, and it is pretty obvious that on some level of his awareness he had realized that a good deal of his immense potential had gone down the drain as a result of alcoholism and fame-provoked decadence. the 60's dream of liberation and freedom had failed miserably and resulted in a despairing sense of failure, and i would venture to say that morrison felt this more acutely than hendrix or joplin. morrison was basically an idealistic, philosophical poet who wanted to change the fundamentals of society and make people more aware, and tragically he had been commodified just like everyone is in popular culture, and im sure he knew it. a must

Interesting And Well-Assembled.
"The Soft Parade" is the final of the MCA three-tape Doors trilogy. It is not as good as tape 1, "Dance On Fire" and a bit better than "Live At The Hollywood Bowl." This video is a well assembled finale, sometimes though, it feels like what we're getting are simply the left-overs of what was left out of the first two episodes. No matter, they are good left-overs. The opening sequence cut together to "The Changeling" is an entertaining and rich ensemble of Doors footage showing the wild side of Jim Morrison and how epic and crazy Doors concert footage can seem. As for the television appearance that is the highlight, it is very informative and interesting. It's interesting to see Jim Morrison give his thoughts on music and poetry but the best part is seeing The Doors perform. Morrison is especially captivating while singing "The Soft Parade" which is not a bad song at all. The most entertaining piece of footage for me though, was the scene showing The Doors recording "Wild Child" in the studio. "The Soft Parade" is indeed a great tape for Doors fans and rock enthusiasts, but I recommend you simply buy all three together. The best is still "Dance On Fire" which is an excellent assembling of the best Doors footage around, "Live At The Hollywood Bowl" is just a concert (and one of the weak ones in my opinion). "The Soft Parade" is a nice look at a band that 30 years after legendary frontman Jim Morrison's death, still endures.

EPIC MOMENTS......
The soft parade is a mixed bag of goodies. This video is taken from CRITIQUE(1969), a program that focused on the arts. The Doors were invited to appear and they give some great performances including, "The Soft Parade(10 min.)" and "Build me a woman(cursing)". There is also a short interview with the band by writer Gerry Goldstein, of the Village Voice. The actual program is informative and entertaining...I should know I have a copy. This video on the other hand includes alot more stock footage of the Doors on the road(from unreleased: Feast of Friends) making every moment more interisting and entertaining.

DEFINITELY THE BEST OF THE DOORS
Maybe I'm just biased, as The Doors are my favourite band of all time, and I worship the man that was (and in my heart, still is) Jim Morrison. I hang on every word ever spoken by him. This is definitely the video you should get if you want to get to know the Doors a bit better. If like me you weren't around to witness the phenomenon surrounding them, and the unique singing abilities of Jim, then this is definitely the video for you!